Sparkabet D is for Deicide
by Sparky Army
Summary: Deicide: The killing of a God.


_**The alphabet is something everyone is familiar with (at least we hope so lol) so why not sparkify it? After all everything needs to be sparked at least once lol. So 26 sparky fics are coming your way with titles from A to Z. **_

* * *

**Deicide **

_D is for Deicide - Destruction or killing of a God._

_By Hannah554_

* * *

He was bored.

Elizabeth and Rodney were perfectly content translating the Ancient writing in the old temple, Ronon and Teyla were down at the nearby lake and John was sat staring at the entrance. The locals had made it abundantly clear that they didn't want John and his team up here in the temple for fear that it would offend their God, no one had been here in a few thousand years by the look of it. There were cob webs and dust coating just about every surface in the large crumbling building. They'd managed to convince their leader, sort of, that no harm would come from just taking a quick look, the man had been dubious still but he'd granted them a short visit.

"There's too much here," Elizabeth stated, John could tell she was enjoying herself; she lived for moments like this when she could get a glimpse into another culture. "We need more time."

"I don't think Turon is going to be very forthcoming with that, he didn't want us coming up here in the first place," John replied smiling at the deflated look that came across her face. She'd respect what the people here wanted; their beliefs meant that coming to this place was pretty close to sacrilege.

"There is a group of people approaching," Teyla stated as she and Ronon entered the temple, gaining everyone's attention and John moved a hand to his weapon, just in case. The doors to the temple flew open and mixed voices flooded into the room along with the daylight.

"What is going on here?" once voice questioned, angry.

"Please, forgive them, they are not from here, they do not understand our ways," Turon's voice replied as the men came into view. They recognised Turon immediately, dark tanned skin, black hair and a desperate look on his face that hadn't been there before. The other men were all unfamiliar, dressed in black and carrying weapons that were obviously not native to this planet. One man stood out among the others though, he wasn't dressed in black but in white and gold, his hair was long, reaching to just below his shoulders and he was adorned in various bits of jewellery.

"You know the penalty for trespassing on this land Turon, you should have warned them," the jewelled man stated. "You should share in their fate."

"He did warn us," John said stepping forward and introducing himself into the conversation when Turon took a step back looking absolutely terrified. "Sort of, he told us this place was forbidden, we came anyway."

"You are the leader?" the man questioned, Elizabeth stepped forward then.

"No I am," she stated. The man looked her up and down incredulously.

"You?" he questioned "A woman?"

Teyla and Elizabeth both stiffened slightly and John smiled at their restraint, Elizabeth nodded her head, diplomatic smile in place. "Yes."

"The punishment for trespassing on this land is public execution," the man informed her. "However since you are outsiders I will show lenience, only one of your people will be executed, who do you choose?"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude but who are you?" Elizabeth questioned ignoring his question for the moment.

"I am Lanash," he stated as if that was all the explanation that was needed and John guessed that if they were from this planet it would be.

"He is God," Turon stated meekly, his voice still filled with terror.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow "God?"

"That is correct; you have committed a crime against me by trespassing on this land, this place of false worship and sin. One of your people will be executed at dawn, now who do you choose?" he asked her again. Elizabeth didn't answer so Lanash continued. "I see you need time to decide, very well, Lanash is a fair God, you have until dawn to decide who will die for the crime. Now leave this land before the punishment expands to include all of you."

Lanash left and the team were ushered back to the village before any of them could get the chance to digest what had just happened.

* * *

They'd been locked in a cell as soon as they'd got back to the village, Turon had visited them only to apologise that he had not been more vigilant in stopping them going to the temple. He had refused to help them in any way; he wasn't willing to risk incurring his God's wrath anymore than he already had. Rodney, Teyla and Ronon were finishing the meals that had been brought to them, John had eaten only half of his and Elizabeth hadn't even touched hers.

"Your foods gonna go cold," John stated as he sat down next to her, she gave him a distracted smile, her mind seeming a million miles away.

"I'm just thinking," she told him. "I saw the name in the temple, Lanash, I'm trying to remember what it said."

"Does it matter?" John asked her and she shrugged.

"I don't know," she replied still distracted by her own thoughts. John's own thoughts were on something else, the decision that she may be forced to make if a miracle didn't happen in the next few hours. Teyla was the leader of her people; they needed her so Elizabeth couldn't choose her. Ronon was one of the last of his people and he had more knowledge of this galaxy than anyone else on Atlantis. Rodney and Elizabeth were probably the two most valuable people on Atlantis, neither of them were an option. That left only one person... John.

He wasn't giving in, wasn't just going to roll over and die for this guy but if it came down to it and a decision had to be made he would have to convince Elizabeth that he was the logical choice. She wouldn't like it, wouldn't like it no matter who she had to choose but if it was that or all of them then ultimately it was a choice she was going to have to make.

"I can hear you thinking," Elizabeth told him. "I'm not going to choose any of you to die, we haven't done anything wrong and even if we had, I still wouldn't choose."

"You may not have a choice," John pointed out and Elizabeth went quiet again.

"He's an Ancient," she stated suddenly after several moments. "That's why his name was in the temple, he was an Ancient."

"How old is this guy?" John questioned, that probably shouldn't have been the first thought on his mind but it was and the question was out before he could stop it.

"I don't know, he might just be a descendent, or someone pretending to be him but that's what it said in the temple. He went power crazy, started thinking of himself as a God to all the lesser life forms, humans included. The Ancients banished him but that was before they left this galaxy, maybe once they'd gone he got back up to his old tricks," Elizabeth explained. They'd known already that this guy wasn't a God, both the SGC and Atlantis had encountered their far share of more advanced races pretending to be Gods, using their advanced technology to make themselves out to be something that they weren't.

This guy kept the people here in line through fear, his weapons were obviously a big help toward that but John had to wonder what he'd done to make these people so afraid of him in the first place. As soon as they'd mentioned going to the abandoned temple there had been a wave of fear through out the village and since they returned that fear had turned into terror. The villager that had brought them their food returned for their plates, the door to the cell was opened and John stared at it, judging.

"It would do you no good, Lanash has placed guards all around the building, you would not make it far," the villager told him and John was starting to wonder if people could read his mind because they always seemed to know what he was thinking.

"You expect us to just wait around here to be executed?" John questioned.

"No, I do not, have faith that you have done no wrong and therefore will not be punished, a plan is in motion," the villager stated cryptically, taking the plates and then leaving without another word.

"What the hell did that mean?" Rodney questioned, his voice more high pitched than usual in both fear and annoyance.

"I have no idea," John replied.

* * *

"Have you chosen," Lanash asked as the door of the cell was opened and the guards came in, grabbing everyone by the arm, prepared to usher them out.

"I will not choose one of my people to be killed, had we known of the consequences we would not have gone to the temple," Elizabeth replied firmly. The diplomat was in play now and John knew she'd fight this as hard as she could, he also knew that she would probably lose.

"Which is why I will only punish one of your group, if you do not choose then I will make the decision for you and it is my feeling that a leader be held responsible for the action his... or her people take," Lanash stated, his intent was obvious as was the fact that Elizabeth wasn't going to make a decision.

John stepped forward, Elizabeth could be mad at him for this all she wanted but at least she'd be alive. "Me, I'll face the punishment."

"John," Elizabeth warned him but Lanash smiled in satisfaction.

"Someone who can make a decision, should you not be the leader here?" he asked and John shook his head.

"Dr Weir handles the job far better than I could," John replied simply, keeping his face neutral.

"Very well, you alone will face the punishment for the crime committed against me," Lanash told him and then turned to the guards. "Bring them all, they should all bare witness to the consequences of defying their God."

"John what have you done?" Elizabeth questioned rhetorically as they were all pulled out of the cell and into the street. Her voice was full of emotions, anger being only one of them, fear being another. He held her gaze; it had been this or allow Lanash to execute her instead. Elizabeth had come a long way from the naive diplomat that had first comet o Atlantis, she knew force was necessary sometimes, that as much power as words had they still had their limits. There were times though where she held onto her stubborn principles and the belief that she could fix all problems if she just had enough faith in herself and what words could do, if she just held strong. More often than not it would work too; this wasn't going to be one of those times.

"What I had to," he told her and she gave him a fearful disapproving look.

A crowd had already gathered on the street, in fact it seemed that most of the village was there to watch the morning execution. What the villager had said to them last night was running circles in his head, despite the fact that he was about to be executed John had the strange feeling that not everything was exactly as it seemed.

"Do you have anything you wish to say before your death?" Lanash asked.

John had to think for a moment, if this really was the end then this would be the last chance for him to say the things that needed to be said. There was so much, he looked at Elizabeth, too much that needed to be said and even now, even though he might be dead in a few minutes most of it still couldn't work it's way into the open. He looked at the three members of his team, from the way they looked back he didn't need to say anything to them, they already knew it all. He looked back to Elizabeth, she avoided his gaze and he stepped toward her, the guard letting him go the few steps it took to reach her but John could tell he was ready to grab him again at a moments notice.

"Elizabeth..." he began, the words still not coming to him and she finally met his gaze. They'd always said more to each other by their looks than by words and that moment was no different. She was still being held by the guard, if she hadn't been John had the distinct impression she would have thrown her arms around him and held on for dear life, he couldn't say he wouldn't do the same.

"I'm really mad at you," she told him and he smiled slightly, touching her cheek with the tips of his fingers.

"I know," he replied and the guard stepped up behind him, grabbing his arm to pull him away again.

"John..." Elizabeth began her own words failing her now.

"I know," John repeated and he knew that she did too.

He was pulled to stand in front of Lanash, two of his guards were flanking him and John was knocked to his knees when he didn't go down to them himself. The crowd was silent and John's hope that something was going to save him was quickly fading, at least Elizabeth and his team would be alive, they'd be able to go home once this was over.

"For your crimes against me, your God, I sentence you to death. I grant you forgiveness and with it merciful death," Lanash stated and John resisted the urge to roll his eyes and laugh at the small speech. The two guards that were standing on either side of their 'God' raised their weapons, pointing them at John and preparing to fire. John closed his eyes, allowing the knowledge that his team were safe to take over along with the image of Elizabeth, he kept her face in his mind as he heard the gun shots.

There was no pain, no nothing, in fact someone was still shooting so either they had really bad aim or they weren't shooting at him. He opened his eyes; anarchy had broken out in just the few seconds since he'd last had his eyes open. The crowd were scattering in a panic, several of the locals were now firing weapons at the guards and Lanash was dead in front of him, a single shot to the head. Something grabbed his jacket, pulling him up from the floor and dragging him into the building he'd not long since left. Whoever it was stayed behind him, he couldn't see them so he tried to push them off him.

"Sheppard," Ronon's voice said and John stopped struggling as the Satedan let go of him.

"You are in incredibly stupid man," Teyla chastised hugging him briefly, Ronon patted him on the back and Rodney gave him an awkward smile, Elizabeth didn't even look at him. Instead she watched the commotion outside; the guards were all going down quickly, overwhelmed by the sheer number of locals who had decided to take up arms. John would go out and help but he didn't think the villagers actually needed any.

* * *

Turon had apologised to them a million times over the last few hours for deceiving them and using them. It had been part of a plan all along; to lure Lanash here so that they could kill him, John and the others had just come along at the right time, or the wrong one depending on how you looked at it, and given them an opportunity they couldn't pass up. The villagers had grown tired of living under Lanash's rule a long time ago, they'd already grown suspicious that he was not who he claimed to be but hadn't had the means or the guts to do anything about it until now. Elizabeth had been right; one of the guards that had survived the fight had confessed that Lanash was nothing more than a descendent of a banished Ancient. The family had passed down the name and the role of God to this planet and a few others for generations.

"Once again, I apologise for the manner in which we deceived you, I hope our people can still be friends in the future," Turon stated, apologising yet again.

"I'm sure that's possible," Elizabeth replied, giving the young leader a smile.

"Then I will look forward to your return," Turon said, ending their conversation and after a few muttered goodbyes the team left through the gate, scattering fairly quickly in a number of different directions. John followed Elizabeth to her office; obviously they had things to talk about.

"You shouldn't have done that John," she told him immediately and John didn't need to figure out what she was talking about.

"You weren't going to," John replied "If I hadn't then it would have been you up for execution instead, I wasn't about to let that happen."

"It wasn't your decision," she pointed out and he kept his disagreement to himself, he'd known she wouldn't like it when he'd done it, he didn't regret, he wasn't going to. "My life is not more valuable than yours or anyone else's."

"I disagree," he told her simply.

"What's done is done but you can't keep doing this John, disregarding me and my orders when you don't like where they're leading," she stated. John held her gaze. The conversation was both over and far from it at the same time but for now it ended there. Chuck radioed her from the control room and Elizabeth left without another word.

THE END


End file.
